Our alarm raised yesterday on Motorsport.com is shared by both Pirelli and the FIA. Not only did the dizzying increase in performance over the lap time recorded in Miami (1″995 from the 2022 pole) have the sole tire supplier and the International Federation in turmoil due to the downforce values that the single-seaters have already reached after five GP, when the teams’ pre-season simulations predicted those numbers by the end of the championship.
Already after Australia, the technicians directed by Mario Isola had begun evaluating whether it was necessary to intervene on the tires and the American race only confirmed the need to review the construction of the tires, not the compounds which will remain the same as Now.
The interventions should not have a particularly impact on performance, but rather guarantee the supply of tires capable of withstanding the increased stresses even on the most demanding tracks such as Silverstone, Spa, Zandvoort and Suzuka.
The idea under discussion would be to start right from the British GP, subject to the conclusion of the bureaucratic approval process. The FIA can choose to activate two paths: ask for the vote of eight out of ten teams, or proceed motu proprio by asserting the cause of safety, as happened last year with the introduction of the TD39. Then it will be up to the FIA World Council to decide to proceed.
Pirelli tyres: from Silverstone we will see tires with a stiffer casing
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Pirelli and the International Federation were right to move in time because from Imola we will see many single-seaters that will bring important technical updates in the hope of bringing the Red Bulls closer together, so it will be easy to predict a further increase in downforce and performance.
And since it is better to be safe than sorry, it was decided to intervene: in reality, the Milanese manufacturer could also have acted by increasing the inflation pressures of the tyres, but the measure could have been less fair, favoring those who would have adapted better to the tires ” …inflated like balloons”.
We also expect that someone might think that the intervention was designed in an attempt to put a brake on the elusive Red Bulls, in reality the strategy adopted is aimed only at safeguarding the safety criteria that the sudden increase in performance risks putting in doubt.
For now, the issue has been kept under wraps until the preview of RacingNews365: for now there are no official statements. All mouths are sealed while waiting for the International Federation to outline the approval process: the changes to the tires will be approved without the teams being able to test the “reinforced” products.
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